Ubiquiti AmpliFi Ships August 1, Brings Professional Networking Home

Ubiquiti Networks has been around for a while as a professional networking company, serving up Enterprise-level networking products for reliable and fast business Wi-Fi. While it’s possible to deploy a Ubiquiti network in your home, it would take a lot of inside knowledge, far from the plug and play mesh networking solutions offered by other companies like eero and Luma.

That is, until today.

Today, Ubiquiti announced the ship dates for their highly anticipated AmpliFi line. Similar to those aforementioned networks, the AmpliFi system consists of a powerful wireless router and two mesh points (more can be added as needed). While the advantage may seem to go to systems that contain multiple routers as part of their environment, the AmpliFi system is much easier to set up in practice.

Setting up the AmpliFi router itself is a simple process and only takes about ten minutes. On its own, it’s a nice looking piece of hardware, with a bright LED ring on the base and a dedicated touchscreen on the front. The touchscreen is a feature rarely seen in home routers and conveniently keeps you updated on a number of network metrics (you can cycle through the preset displays by tapping the screen). I found myself gravitating towards the upload/download traffic screen. Of course, then the challenge became focusing on whatever I was streaming and not staring at the AmpliFi to see if I was maxing out my network.

Image by Ubiquiti Labs

Setting up the mesh point is literally plug and play. Find an available outlet where you want to improve your Wi-Fi signal (for example, the network in my master bedroom is always frustratingly slow) and plug it in. The app will let you know the strength of the signal the mesh point is receiving. You can then move the omni-directional magnetic antenna until it’s pointed in a direction that gives you an optimized signal (the LEDs on the front of the antenna also display current signal strength).

No matter where I am in the house, network access on the $349 AmpliFi HD is pleasingly fast and packs a ton of power for speedy transfmission. The less expensive Standard and LR versions aren’t quite as robust (they use a 2x2 MIMO radio configuration as opposed to the 3x3 MIMO in the HD); but they provide the same broad coverage via a base station and two paired mesh points. The base units for all three versions support the latest 802.11b/g/a/n/ac protocols, with the mesh points for the HD being the only ones that support 802.11ac.

Screenshots by Ubiquiti Labs

As much feedback as the AmpliFi system provides you without an app, you'd think the app might be superfluous. But the AmpliFi app is indispensable and provides a ton of additional funcionality. You can conduct a speed test on your network, find out what devices are connected to which access point, and set up a password-free, time-limited Guest network that you can share directly from the app. There’s also the ability to set the base station to dim the touchscreen and LED for a certain period every day - a feature I wish was available for the mesh points as well, those little signal LEDs are very bright in a darkened bedroom. There’s also a Diagnose setting that lets you dig into any issues your network might be experiencing. So far, I haven’t had to think about it.

I’m impressed with the responsiveness of the app. I’ve used an Airport Extreme for years because of the theoretical ease of use of the dedicated Airport Utility app. Sadly,
Apple’s networking acumen has fallen behind that initial innovation - the app is often slow to respond and slow to diagnose (when it sees the hardware on the first try, which doesn’t usually happen). Even then, I wasn’t ready to give up my Extreme, because mucking around in a web-based app to tweak router settings is a special kind of torture. The AmpliFi app, conversely, is everything that a modern network maintenance app should be - fast, responsive, and informative.

My AmpliFi network has been rock solid with no downtime since I started it up last week (5 days and some change, according to the app, which has a convenient uptime counter). Mobile devices like phones and tablets readily switch between access points and the Client list provides all the detail you need on where your devices are and how solid their signal is. Unfortunately, the one hiccup I found was that you can only check on your network when you’re using the network. The app doesn’t have the capability to access your network remotely. Ubiquiti Labs did this to maintain security; but others like Luma have managed to provide remote access. It would be a nice feature for those times I get a text from home asking me why "the internet isn’t working" (not that that’s happened with the AmpliFi system yet). My only other caveat with the system is ridiculously minor, it’s a bit too easy to uncouple the mesh point antenna from its magnetic base when adjusting the direction it’s pointing. Use a bit less force than you think you need and you’ll be fine.

The AmpliFi and AmpliFi Long Range (that sports a bit more power to cover up to 20,000 square feet) both ship on August 1 and can be pre-ordered at www.amplifi.com for $199 and $299, respectively. The $349 AmpliFi HD will ship a bit later, on August 15. This is Ubiquiti Lab’s first foray into home networking and it’s an out-of-the-ballpark success. The ease of use, from setup to operation, is unmatched and the signal strength and reliability of the network makes other mesh systems look like they’re previous-gen. I really appreciate the various price points as well - if you don’t have a big place, there’s no need to spend a huge amount of money - the standard AmpliFi setup will give you all the coverage you need for your apartment or small home. The AmpliFi Long Range will easily serve everyone else, still for less than most other mesh network solutions. The AmpliFi HD is for those who have already adopted hardware using the 802.11ac standard or who have truly gargantuan homes (in which case, maybe you should be looking at Ubiquiti Lab’s professional network solutions anyway). Whatever your Wi-Fi need, AmpliFi will serve you well.

I’ve been writing about technology, gadgets, and pop culture for the past two decades. I’ve seen the rise and fall (and rise again) of Apple. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate…